Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon is racing against the clock, but it appears that he will present his government two days from now, as he announced at the end of last week. However, his most likely partner, the National Religious Party, is likely to be left out. Shas and the Likud initialed an agreement last night, and the National Union and Yisrael B\'Aliyah are likely to follow tonight. Following the NRP\'s refusal to agree to the terms offered it by the Likud, Yisrael B\'Aliyah head Natan Sharansky will apparently benefit and will assume the post originally offered to the NRP representative - that of Housing Minister.
The NRP, which had earlier agreed to waive its demand for two government ministers, is not willing to compromise on the powers its Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs was to be offered. Party leader Rabbi Yitzchak Levy and MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman said that the terms offered the NRP by the Likud are less than that proposed by Ehud Barak two years ago. \"We are practically the only party that worked outright for Sharon\'s election, and this is how we are treated,\" they said. Barring last-minute changes, the NRP will not join the government, but will support it from the outside.
David Levy of the Gesher party will not serve as a Minister in the new government. After a congenial meeting with his friend Ariel Sharon today, he said that to serve as a minister without a portfolio in such a large government would be akin merely to \"warming the seat.\"
Negotiations with the National Union continue. Party leader Rehavam Ze\'evi has agreed to accept the Tourism Ministry, but asks that his authorities also include the National Parks and Nature Reserves, the Antiquities Authority, and the Green Patrol (responsible for enforcing environmental regulations).
Labor MK Ophir Pines was chosen by his party today to head the Knesset Law Committee. According to the coalition agreement, he will be replaced at the end of 15 months - if the government is still in existence - by MK Benny Elon of the National Union party. Pines expressed his vociferous objections to Elon\'s appointment, and said that his successor was supposed to have been from the Likud.
Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shachak and MK Uri Savir, both of the rapidly-collapsing Center Party, will resign from the Knesset this week. They will be replaced by the next two members on the party\'s Knesset list: Nechama Ronen, formerly of the right-wing Tzomet party, and David Magen, formerly of the Likud.
Atty. Sinai Gilboa, a negotiator for the 17-seat Shas party, told Arutz-7 today that Shas had not received everything it wanted:
\"Compared to what other parties received, our demands were definitely modest - but we showed flexibility because of the importance of forming the government… Shas will receive five ministers: Eli Yesha as Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and also Ministers of Labor, Religious Affairs, Health, and Jerusalem Affairs. In addition, we will have three deputy ministers: Education, and two others that are yet to be determined. The Tal Committee Law [regulating military exemptions for yeshiva students] will be passed, but the question of the Direct Election [of the Prime Minister] law has not yet been finalized [Shas wishes to postpone its cancellation until after the next Knesset elections]… No, we did not receive a representative on the Committee for the Appointment of Judges; this was one of the concessions we made in order to reach an agreement for a national-unity government which is so important to the country at this time.\"